July 26, 2023
Dear Colleagues,
When we change academic requirements for students, VCU must do all it can to ensure students can be successful. I am writing today to share that a new racial literacy requirement as a component of general education will not begin this year, so that we can provide the capacity necessary for student success.
VCU currently offers two courses that meet the criteria of the new requirement. Those courses alone cannot offer the class seats needed to meet the annual demand of more than 4,000 first-year students.
This decision is not a referendum on current courses. It is about implementing a universitywide requirement. The two are separate matters.
The two current courses, CSIJ 200 Introduction to Race and Racism in the United States and AMST 216 Reading Race, will be located in the “Diversities in the Human Experience” Area of Inquiry (AOI) category of general education. That is where CSIJ 200 was located last year, and AMST 216 will join it as a newly created course.
We encourage and support the efforts of faculty members to create additional courses, and to continue collecting data for assessing the impact and learning outcomes of their courses. Such data will allow the university to examine implementing this new requirement while ensuring sufficient capacity for our learners to meet the obligation being placed on them.
By extending the implementation of this requirement, we are creating an opportunity for VCU’s academic community to work together to scale our course capacity needs while ensuring that our students are not held responsible for courses they cannot access.
We will work with the University Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (UUCC), when they convene in just a few weeks, to develop an academic planning framework to consider university requirements. This shared governance process will inform not only this particular issue but also other curriculum decisions bearing university-wide implications.
Meanwhile, Academic Affairs will work with schools/colleges to revise affected Bulletin pages so that they accurately reflect all general education requirements before the semester begins.
We are working with VCU Student Success to notify students enrolled in these courses about this change. Students can remain enrolled in the course to satisfy the ConnectEd Diversities in Human Experience requirement, if needed. Advisors will also be notified of these changes and will be able to support students with their decision making.
Thank you for your assistance with this effort. I look forward to working with you to ensure that VCU is prepared fully to support students in meeting what we require of them.
Best Regards,